July 14,2008MORNING UPDATE:GREEN PARTY… The U.S. Green Partychose former DemocraticRep. Cynthia McKinney as its 2008 presidential candidate onSaturday.McKinney, 53, will be joined on the ticket for the Novemberelection by vice presidential candidate Rosa Clemente, a hip-hopartist and activist.

TODAY!!!…McCAINHEADQUATERS & VICTORY CENTER GRAND OPENING…we willofficially open our headquarters TODAY, Monday, July 14th at 5pmand would be honored if you all would join us and also invite yourown organizations. Governor Mitt Romney will be among ourspecial guests who will be there to help kick off our grassrootscampaign here in Michigan. When: Monday, July 14, 2008 at 5 PM Where: McCain Great Lakes Regional HQ and Michigan VictoryCenter31440 Northwestern Hwy, Suite 100Farmington Hills, MI 48344RSVP to [email protected] or248-579-4578STATE REPRESENTATIVE CANDIDATES…have you met your localcandidate yet? With term limits and other moving on, we asRepublican activists need to encourage and support our “farmteam”. Find a local candidate tosupport…it’s a team effort!TALK RADIO 1400 AM…I’ve become a weekly guest on theHughes Sullivan Show on WDTK-AM 1400, which is broadcast in metroDetroit every evening. I am scheduled to regularly appearMondays and Fridays between 9:05 – 9:45 pm. Good, conservative talkradio. You can hear it online at http://wdtkam.townhall.com/ FACEBOOK…MICHIGAN McCAIN SUPPORTERS…join this group to get thelatest on what’s happening in our region.JACK HOOGENDYK FOR U.S. SENATE…to follow the latest on Jack’scampaign to defeat Carl Levin go to: http://www.jackformichigan.org/media.htm

SLATECARD…AN EASYWAY TO CONTRIBUTE TO OUR FRIENDS…Slatecard was designed to alloweasy, online way to contribute and support our candidates forfederal office. Please take a minute to check it out…andhopefully help.

On Jan.28, 1969, a blowout on a Unocal rig six miles off the coast ofCalifornia spilled 3 million gallons of oil into the waters offSanta Barbara. The blackened beaches and oil-soaked birds and sealsbecame icons for the environmental movement and eventually broughtoil exploration off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of the UnitedStates to a halt.Now, President Bush, Republicans in Congress and big oil companieswant to reopen those waters to oil and gas exploration. In hisradio address Saturday, Bush said that "technological advances haveallowed us to explore oil offshore in ways that protect theenvironment" and that outer continental shelf areas now off limits"could produce enough oil to match America’s current production foralmost 10 years."The issue has become a dividing line for the presidentialcandidates. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) reversed his position lastmonth and endorsed expanded offshore drilling, while Sen. BarackObama (D-Ill.) wants to maintain the moratorium on offshoredrilling, which he says would do nothing to immediately lowergasoline prices. In the past week, congressional Republicans haveissued a blizzard of statements pushing for action before summerrecess, and some Democrats may be leaning their way.

JohnMcCain is the candidate who actually had experience as a wartimeflier, but Barack Obama is the one who has most successfullyadapted a favorite tactic of those intrepid aviators. When thepilots were over a target heavily defended by antiaircraft guns,they would release a cloud of fine metal scraps, hoping to confusethe aim of the shells or missiles being fired in theirdirection.In the weeks since he effectively clinched the Democraticpresidential nomination, the Illinois senator has done a similartrick, throwing out verbal hints of altered positions on any numberof issues. This is creating quandaries for the Republicans whocan’t figure out where to aim.

Intheir effort to embarrass him, Republicans ask: Who is the realBarack Obama? Is he, as he claims, a fresh face, heralding a newera of post-partisan politics, or a cynical old-style pol makingpoll-driven adjustments with scant regard for principles? Aprotectionist or a free-trader? A corporate-basher or an ally ofinterest-group contributors? Is he a doctrinaire liberal,disguising himself as a late-blooming centrist?

The late Tony Snow— how odd it is to write “late” beforeTony’s name, and how sad — was an editorial writer andcolumnist, the host of “Fox News Sunday” for sevenyears and of a radio talk show for three, and a speechwriter in theWhite House of the first president Bush and press secretary for thesecond. We were twice colleagues (at the first Bush White House andat Fox), and throughout our two decades together in Washingtoncompatriots and friends.I could easily dilate on Tony’s impressive achievements injournalism and government, and on the remarkable abilities andmanifold talents that made his professional accomplishmentspossible.But I’ll remember Tony Snow more for his character than hiscareer. I’ll especially remember the calm courage andcheerful optimism he displayed in his last three years, in the faceof his fatal illness.

Back in January,when Sen. Barack Obama pulled off his stunning win in the Iowacaucuses, and people were lining up in the cold and snow for hoursjust to get a glimpse of him, there was a wide and growing belief– encouraged to the max by the candidate — that something new inAmerican politics had arrived.

Only an idiot wouldthink or hope that a politician going through the crucible of apresidential campaign could hold fast to every position, steerclear of the stumbling blocks of nuance and never make a mistake.But Obama went out of his way to create the impression that he wasa new kind of political leader — more honest, less cynical andless relentlessly calculating than most.

This is why so manyof Obama’s strongest supporters are uneasy, upset, dismayed andeven angry at the candidate who is emerging in the bright light ofsummer.

The Treasury andFederal Reserve moved Sunday to bolster the finances of Fannie Maeand Freddie Mac to ensure that the mortgage giants do not succumbto mounting market pressures this week.The Fed said its board voted to allow the agencies to borrow fromthe central bank for the first time in case they exhaust their$2.25 billion lines of credit with the Treasury.Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr., who worked on the planthrough the weekend with Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke and other topregulators and legislators, said he will seek emergency authorityfrom Congress for a temporary increase on the amount that themortgage agencies can borrow from the Treasury and enable theTreasury to purchase some of their stock.

As home pricescontinue to decline and loan defaults mount, federal regulators arebracing for dozens of American banks to fail over the nextyear.But after a large mortgage lender in California collapsed lateFriday, Wall Street analysts began posing two crucial questions:Just how many banks might falter? And, more urgently, which onecould be next?The nation’s banks are in far less danger than they were inthe late 1980s and early 1990s, when more than 1,000 federallyinsured institutions went under during the savings-and-loan crisis.The debacle, the greatest collapse of American financialinstitutions since the Depression, prompted a government bailoutthat cost taxpayers about $125 billion.

DETROIT — Hundredsmore text messages in the criminal case of Mayor Kwame Kilpatrickcould be released today if prosecutors get their wish.Although a hearing isn’t scheduled until Sept. 2 on whether themessages can be used as evidence in trial, 36th District JudgeRonald Giles said he’ll rule today on a controversial motion byprosecutors to unveil some 200 text messages in the case.The content and authors of the messages aren’t publicly known, butassistant prosecutor Robert Moran said they "go to the heart" ofperjury, conspiracy, misconduct in office and obstruction ofjustice charges against Kilpatrick and his former chief of staff,Christine Beatty.

For decades, theManoogian Mansion was simply the city-owned home on the DetroitRiver where the mayor and his family lived.Now, it’s code for one of the most sensational parties in Detroithistory.A much-rumored, never-proven, alleged party.As in all stories about the party, it is necessary to use thosequalifiers. Because despite half a decade of gossip, investigationsand speculation, the Manoogian party remains a myth.

WATERVLIET — To those in the know, The Elite Bar indowntown Watervliet is that small town bar with some of the bestolive burgers around.It’s also that familiar, cozy placewhere peo ple go to have a drink or two, dance to the live rockbands on the week ends, pop a dollar in the jukebox – andsmoke cig arettes.

Elitebartender Susan John son estimates that 75 percent of the clientsare smokers.In other words, they like that smoky atmo sphere.She is worriedthat when an anticipated statewide smoking ban takes effect it willhave a devastating economic impact on the business and on the manysmall bars in Southwest Michigan. “Most of the peoplearen’t going to go out side for a smoke and then come back infor an other drink,” Johnson said. “That isn’tgoing to happen. It’s going to be awful for business.It’s going to hurt people like me, and the businessowners.”

Thelate Tony Snow — how odd it is to write “late”before Tony’s name, and how sad — was an editorialwriter and columnist, the host of “Fox News Sunday” forseven years and of a radio talk show for three, and a speechwriterin the White House of the first president Bush and press secretaryfor the second. We were twice colleagues (at the first Bush WhiteHouse and at Fox), and throughout our two decades together inWashington compatriots and friends.I could easily dilate on Tony’s impressive achievements injournalism and government, and on the remarkable abilities andmanifold talents that made his professional accomplishmentspossible.But I’ll remember Tony Snow more for his character than hiscareer. I’ll especially remember the calm courage andcheerful optimism he displayed in his last three years, in the faceof his fatal illness.